Source: www.angdatingdaan.org
We are all aware of the practices and traditions that the people of this world follow about their loved ones who had passed away. They perform a lot of rituals and ceremonies, which only proves that they do not know the will of God.
The Bible considers these practices concerning the dead as a sheer hypocrisy in the eyes of God. And because of that, the servants of God are prohibited from adopting them.
What are the traditions being followed by people who are ignorant of the will of God concerning our dead loved ones? Why did the Bible consider them as acts of hypocrisy? Why should we not emulate them? If you are already in the Church of God, if you are already aware of God’s will, what must you do should your loved ones pass away? What attitude should you display? If you are not supposed to do what the world is doing, what should you do?
First of all, let us find out how should a true servant of God love? Rom. 12:9 says,
“Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.”
The servants of God in the Church of God are being taught to love without dissimulation – without hypocrisy and superficiality. You see, superficial love is very common among the people of this world. But this should not be emulated by the servants of God. The love that you should give to your fellowman, especially to your loved ones, should be real. And you are to show this love not only in his presence but also in his absence. Otherwise, you are violating what the Bible teaches. A true servant of God loves without hypocrisy. He should not give help simply because it will be published in the newspapers. That is wrong! We should learn to love with sincerity. Let us ask the Bible. What is a sincere love?
I Pet. 4:8, “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”
A sincere love is fervent. It is true. It is without flaw. It is not superficial. That is the kind of love that is being taught to the servants of God. But, if we are going to examine the kind of love that the people of this world have, obviously, what they have is not a fervent love but the opposite. They greet each other by kissing both cheeks. But that is not the kind of love that God commanded us to show our fellows. It should be fervent. If we may compare it with a flame, it should not be a flickering flame that would readily die at the slightest blowing of the wind.
A fervent love, or charity, is not hypocrite. If he is giving something, he is giving with sincerity. And every time that he gives something, he is doing it from the heart, and he does not expect anything in return. He does not have any other motive, except to give wholeheartedly.
A true servant of God is never taught of hypocrisy – both to his brethren in the Church and to those who are outside the Church. The love that is taught to him is the love, or charity, in its truest sense. But, until when should we truly love our fellowman?
In Rom. 14:15, “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.”
There are people whose love is not lasting. They love them while they are with them, but once they leave, the love is gone likewise. That is not the kind of love that the Bible prescribes. If we will love, let us abide by the law in the Bible. We should love until the end. If your loved one happened to be of different faith, the love that you should show him should be sincere and lasting. Encourage him to listen to the word of God. And because you truly care for him, you will be patient with him. Do not do what other religious organizations do, wherein a deadline is set for a member to convince a non-member from joining their group. And should he refuse to join them, he will be treated as an enemy. We are not like them. A brother in faith, whose wife is a non-believer, has a mission of making her a convert. And he is to do it patiently because the love that he has is sincere and fervent. That is why the Bible admonished us that our love should be until the end, and it should be practiced everyday.
There are some who, after being irked, easily give up their mission. That is not the right attitude. Even if our loved one refused to join the Church, he, still, should be loved without hypocrisy, not just for a day or two, not just for a month. That is not what the Bible teaches.
Let us go back to our topic. If our loved one passes away, what attitude should a servant of God display?
In Eccl. 9:5-6, “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun.”
If a person had passed away, he could no longer give you the love and the care that he used to give when he was still alive. In the same manner that if your loved one had passed away, you could no longer make him feel the love you have for him -–because he is already dead. How should we properly handle the death of a loved one? Job 12:10 says,
“In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.”
Isn’t it that, sometimes, others accuse us of not showing our love for a family member who had departed? The question is, if you truly love that person, why are you showing your love just now when he is already incapable of feeling it? Why did you not show it when he was still alive, and could very well feel and appreciate your love? Why is it that you were respectful of him when he was still alive? Why did you make fun of him? Why were you dishonest with him when he was still living? And now that he is dead, you cried as if you truly loved him? It is much better that you entrust him to the Lord. His fate is already in His hands. Now that he is dead, we no longer have any power over him.
How could you make a dead person feel your love when he is already void of feelings? Will you hire people who would pray for the respite of his soul, and for his soul to be delivered from purgatory? That is the kind of love that many people know, but that is not what the Bible is teaching to the servants of God. Now that he is dead, we should leave his fate in the discretion of God. Why? What does the Bible say about life? Psalms 145:16 says,
“Thou openest thine hand, and satisfieth the desire of every living thing.”
Consider what God is doing. To whom does He show generosity? Whose needs does He satisfy? We are talking of the living here. The dead are not included. Most people pretend to grieve and weep when somebody passes away. But after a while, they will start talking ill about the deceased. But we, as servants of God, have a belief and principle different from that of the world.
As servants of God, we were taught that we ought to show our love to our family members while they are still capable of feeling our love. God is our guide. Psalms 145:16 did not make any reference to the dead. To whom does He shower His love? to the living because they are the ones who need to be loved, not the dead. Does the dead have any need for anything? None! So, who needs to feel our love? It is the living. Let us give our fervent love to our relatives, friends, and brethren in faith, while they are still alive, not when they die.
What hypocrisy does the people of the world show to their deceased loved ones, which should not be emulated by the servants of God? Mat. 23:27 says,
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are alike unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and all uncleanness.”
On the outside, they want to show everybody how much they love their deceased member of the family. To whom they were likened? . . . to the Pharisees who were full of hypocrisies. They were likened to sepulchers painted with white . . . like the tomb of the Pharaoh . . . like the tombs of the Chinese – they are all beautiful on the outside. In fact, their architectural designs are impressive. But nonetheless, they are still tombs. That is a manifestation of hypocrisy. But actually, their deceased family member was not really dear to them. What was dear to them is the memorial lot – the graveyard. What is the proof? That is what they made beautiful. But what did they used to do when, let’s say their father was still alive? The children used to quarrel with him. They were disrespectful of him. But when he died, one of the children volunteered to buy the casket, another bought the burial lot, etc. Each of them took care of a particular expense. But when their father was still alive, they were cursing him. They tell everybody that their father is a drunkard, etc.
You have no right to utter any vile word against your father. His being a drunkard does not give you the license to be disrespectful of him. But when he died, you grieved as if you truly loved him. They claimed to love him that is why they are giving him a first class memorial service and a magnificent tomb. That is hypocrisy! To prove that, Mat. 23:29 says,
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous . . .”
They claim that they care for their deceased love one, and their way of showing it is thru the expensive casket, magnificent tomb, and beautiful flowers and candles. That is mere hypocrisy. They should have spent that much for him when he was still alive – when he was still in the position to enjoy and appreciate your deeds. Your expensive flowers and candles, and even your tears, cannot compensate for your negligence and disrespect you’ve shown him when he was still alive. That is not in accordance with what the Bible teaches. Let us always use the Bible as our guide on how we should rightfully show our love to our family. It should be done while the person is still alive, not when he is already dead.
Unfortunately, that is what many people do today. But is it only in our time that such an attitude is being practiced? Eccle. 3:15 says,
“That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.”
Don’t ever think that the practice of beautifying tombs happen only in our time. This had been done by the Scribes and the Pharisees then. In what kind of tombs were the Pharaohs interred? They were interred in big burial places. That is not a practice of people who truly love because that is not the kind of love that the Bible teaches. But that is not surprising that such a practice is adopted by many people today. They are of the same spirit as the Scribes and the Pharisees, and the Egyptians in the past.
Our question now is, What admonition is given to the servants of God? Rom. 12:2 says,
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.”
Will you do as they do? Do you want to imitate what they are doing? Please, don’t! They even celebrate a feast for the souls of the dead. What do they do on that day? They say they will visit their loved ones, and they would make them feel how much they love them. But how can that be? How can they feel your love when they are already incapable of feeling? They scheduled a feast for them every November 1. That is why when this day comes, they go to the cemetery. But that is not a sign of true love. That is but hypocrisy. Therefore, it should not be practiced by a servant of God.
Let us not do what many of our fellowmen are doing. Do not join them if they are going to the cemetery. That is only done by people who do not know God. A person who knows God practices the kind of love that the Bible teaches. And what is that? Show love to the living. The living is the ones to be given love, and not the dead. It is not when a person dies that we are going to shower him with love. That is hypocrisy. Besides, their celebration of the feast for the souls has become too commercialized.
Even stores and shopping malls are decorated with bats, cobwebs, and other horrifying items. If you are a store-owner, do not decorate it those things. We should not adopt what these people are doing. We should not be hypocrites like them. We will stick to what the Bible teaches. Let is not imitate our relatives and friends who are ignorant of the will of God. Why? John 15:19-20 says,
“If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Remember the word that I said unto you. The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”
We ought to be ready for that. That should be expected by a servant of God. Let them say what they want to say. Whatever they say should not surprise us anymore. Nonetheless, we are not supposed to follow their ways. We are forbidden by God to do as they do. I John 5:19 says,
“And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.”
We are treading a different track. The path that they are treading is different from ours. We are following the old path, while they are leading a path heading to perdition, or destruction. Their inclination is to doing wickedness, so, why do we have to join them? Let them do as they please. And whatever they do, we must not emulate them. (source: www.angdatingdaan.org)